Bannockburn Dolphins

DIVISIONAL MEET CHAMPS

The success of the Dolphins has always resided in the team's depth in the third-through fifth echelons. (And yes, the fastest Dolphins are, well, pretty darn fast.) Because only two swimmers are eligible to compete in each event at divisional meets, the Dolphins have not always lived up to the expectations of some. Indeed, no one seems to know exactly when the Bannockburn Dolphins last won Divisionals. The day clearly occurred before the majority of the present-day Dolphins were born.

Let it be known that any jinx or drought or whatever has officially ended. Who could have expected the unbelievable 112-point victory at Saturday's meet?  This was the largest margin of victory in Divisions A through N. In a six-team field, the Dolphins won an incredible 18 of the 50 events. That's over a third! 

The performances of many Dolphin swimmers were notably inspiring, including several come-from-behind performances resulting in last-second touch-outs for higher places. These strong finishers included Madeline Alagia in IM, Hannah Melrod and Nick Hopkins in breaststroke, and Pieter Fosburgh in fly. And who couldn't notice Emily Austin's 50-meter fly battle against a swimmer in the next lane seeded 2½ seconds faster. Stroke after stroke, stroke after stroke they matched each other; at the very end, they tied. Numerous Dolphins dropped time and finished better than their seeded positions, including Nicky Schulkin, Andy Lair Ferrari, Alex Spigler and Emma Kelley-Bell in IM, Ray Crist, Vincent Steis, Pieter Fosburgh and Andy Lair Ferrari in free, Vincent Steis in back, Owen Wassiliew, Kaili Gregory, Nick Hopkins and Kevin Wagman in breaststroke, and Pieter Fosburgh, Andy Lair Ferrari, John Janezich, Evan Steingass and Kevin Wagman in fly. The meet ended with an unexpected victory of the third-seeded girls' relay team, anchored by a thrilling performance by girl-of-steel Sophie Nichols holding off a much larger swimmer. The perfect ending to a great morning.

Your Times reporter/timer overheard a person from another team say " Bannockburn is in trouble" as the timers changed ends after Event 4. But how could a team that had won two of these events -- including an impressive IM victory by the second-seeded Emma Kelley-Bell --have been in trouble?

Upon further analysis, one possibility is that the naysayer may have been referring to the attire of the Dolphins, as two teams had chosen a crossdressing theme for the Division E meet. But even in this competition, the Bannockburn head coach clearly outclassed everyone with a stylish saunter in a wig, skirt, and garish red fishnet stockings and matching red platform heels perhaps five sizes too small.

SWEEP! SWEEP!!

In a Divisional meet, sweeps are as rare as B meets without thunderstorms. But four sweeps were achieved by the amazing 15-18 girls: Callie Fosburgh and Danielle Schulkin in free and IM and in reverse order in fly, and Malena Lair Ferrari and Danielle Schulkin in back. They were joined by Elizabeth Fosburgh and Madeline Alagia in an impressive sweep of 13-14 IM.

ONE MORE PERFECT MEET:

As she has done throughout the year, Elizabeth Fosburgh won every event she entered: IM, free, back and fly. What more can one say?

ALL STAR TIMES

15 Dolphins combined for an astounding 33 all star performances. We especially congratulate the newest inductees into the Dolphin all-star brigade: Kevin Wagman in fly and Mikela McMahon in back, the latter's last all-star performance being two years ago,  We also congratulate Kaili Gregory and Andy Lair Ferrari upon adding breaststroke and IM, respectively, to their repertoire of all-star strokes. Other Dolphin all-stars were the usual solid cast: Callie Fosburgh, Elizabeth Fosburgh, Jackson Janezich, Emma Kelley-Bell, Malena Lair Ferrari, Hannah Melrod, Leah Melrod, Danielle Schulkin, Nicky Schulkin, Alex Spigler and Matthew Tucker.

NOT THE USUAL RECORD-SETTERS

Until Divisionals, two special Bannockburn swimmers had their names on the Bannockburn record boards as members of relay teams, but not in individual events. Friends, when someone new is added to the record board after a meet it’s special; when two swimmers are added, it’s extraordinary. Alex Spigler can now proudly look at his name being added to the record board in 13-14 breaststroke, lowering the old record set by Willie Fitzgerald in 2001 by over a half-second. The other new inductee into the Dolphin legion of record holders is Kevin Wagman, who slashed a third of a second from the team 30-year-old 15-18 fly record. A third-place seed at the start, Kevin dropped over a second during the race and finished only 0.05 second from first. Congratulations, Alex and Kevin!!

Kevin's performance was sandwiched between two other record-setting performances by Dolphin flyers. Elizabeth Fosburgh trimmed 0.4 second from the team 13-14 fly record previously held by Danielle Schulkin, who, two races later, would lower her own 15-18 fly record by a quarter second in the fastest time in MCSL thus far this summer. We are looking forward to the all-star meet.

SUCCESS

The Dolphin victory at Divisionals moved them into a first-place tie with Darnestown, who beat the Dolphins in a dual meet in Week 5 but trailed at the Relay Carnival and at Divisionals. First place is sweet. Note that the Dolphins have leapfrogged Damascus in future division assignment; the Dolphins will enter Division C in 2010 as the fifth seed.

To those of us who remember Division M six years ago, Division C is totally unimaginable. Congratulations, all swimmers and coaches!!  Everyone who has earned a point, coached a swimmer, or simply offered encouragement to teammates can rightfully share in the glory of this tremendous accomplishment.

Other teams in 2010 Division C (and their division this year) include Potomac (C), Potomac Woods (C), Woodley Gardens (B), Damascus (D) and Germantown (B). Train hard this winter, Dolphins, train hard.

PRE-TEAM MEET

In early June, about three dozen young Dolphins bravely entered the friendly waters of Bannockburn Pool and said, “I can swim a little, but I want to be a swimmer.”  Two or three times a week, they learned technique and endurance and practiced their skills. We’re talking about the pre-teamers, of course, who demonstrated their skills at the annual pre-team meet on July 21.

And whatta meet!! The pre-teamers looked cute; they warmed up; they stretched; they boomed out a chant. They looked cute again and again. Then they kicked and swam and cannonballed and bellyflopped to the admiration of the vast crowd. They even displayed some incredible dance moves while the diving board was being remounted, causing the lone lap swimmer to leave the pool and watch them with great appreciation.

We congratulate every preteamer who swam at the meet! All of you can be proud of your success. Some of you even swam fast enough to earn points at some MCSL A meets the previous weekend!  We congratulate heat winners Andrew O’Brien, Carly Hoganbruen, Katie MacIsaac and Sophie Stein, two-time heat winners Katie Brady, Dameon Morales, Christina Range, Duncan Ryan, and Colleen Zeugin, and three-time winner Libby Blazes.

We apologize to any winner omitted above; a few of the cards with times were apparently stolen by a coach for a nearby pool looking for new talent. I note that nearly every kickboarder and several backstrokers covered the 25-meter distance in a time faster than that of this now-humbled writer. (Memo to self: swim more and write less.)

Afterwards, the swimmers assembled for a well-deserved dinner of pizza and all the trimmings; then each received a well-earned trophy. Except for starter Tim Mundt, all of the officials were older Dolphin swimmers, many of whom cheered so loudly for swimmers in their lanes that they were undoubtedly hoarse the next morning.

ALL-STAR WEEKEND

The All-Star Relay Meet will begin at 7:00 AM (NOT a misprint) at the Rockville Municipal Swim Center on Saturday, August 1. Warmups are at 6:30. Allow sufficient time for parking.

Even if you’re not swimming at the meet, it is always fun to come and cheer the Dolphin swimmers as they swim against the best teams from Divisions A through G. Bannockburn will field teams in the following events: mixed15-18 free and medley, girls’ open medley, girls’ 13-14 medley, and girls’ freestyle crescendo. The girls’ 9-10 medley team is third alternate. Parents of relay team members not available to swim have hopefully notified Coach Ramzy by now.

The Individual All-Star Meet will be held Sunday, August 2 at 8:00 AM at the Rockville Municipal Swim Center . Warmups start at 7:00. Swimmers eligible to compete are the 16 fastest in MCSL, subject to a two-event maximum per swimmer. As the Times goes to press, the following Dolphins are expected to swim: Nicky Schulkin in back and fly, Kaili Gregory in breaststroke (alternate in free), Emma Kelley-Bell in fly and IM, Alex Spigler in breaststroke, Elizabeth Fosburgh in fly and IM, Danielle Schulkin in back and fly, Malena Lair Ferrari in free and back, Callie Fosburgh in free and IM, and Jackson Janezich in free (alternate in IM). Kevin Wagman is a second alternate in fly; let’s hope that two other male flyers oversleep.

VACATION PLANNING
We’re not talking about hiring someone to plan your next family vacation for an inexpensive yet fun-filled lifelong bonding event. No, we’re making a request that parents take a look at next year’s swimming calendar before planning that weekend trip to grandmama’s house or that week-long rafting trip down the Colorado River . Next year’s division will be extremely competitive; every point and swimmer will be needed. Therefore, please make sure that your swimmers are available by planning your summer vacations to avoid swim meet conflicts.

For those of you looking ahead, the A meet schedule follows: June 12, time trials; June 19, Woodley Gardens (home); June 26, Potomac Woods (home); July 3, Potomac (away); July 10, Damascus (away); July 17, Germantown (home); July 24, Division C meet (away). The All-Star weekend will be the weekend after Divisionals; the Relay Carnival will be sometime between June 27 and July 11; the B meet schedule is not quite finalized but will be held on the usual Wednesdays.

WINTER SWIMMING

It’s no secret that one reason for the success of many Dolphins is that they participate in winter swimming programs. Older swimmers build strength and endurance and learn nuances of technique. Younger swimmers learn proper form and gain enough experience to rarely if ever DQ. Even a program of one or two days per week works wonders in creating swimmers who are ready for the starting blocks (yes, winter meets even have starting blocks) long before the start of next year’s MCSL season. Dolphins have swum for many winter teams, including Sea Devils, Curl Burke, Rockville-Montgomery, and others. For more information, contact a coach or a member of the Swim Team Committee. Most winter programs start in September.